Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
Acronis True Image Home is used in several of my examples. I'll walk through the steps of setting up the 2011 version.
In several of my responses, I mention Acronis True Home Image. Most presume that Acronis is, in fact, installed, or that the process of installing it is obvious to the casual observer.
That's not always the case.
Let me walk you through the steps of installing Acronis True Image Home 2011.
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Setting Up Acronis True Image Home 2011
Acronis is a downloadable program available from the Acronis web site. Whether you purchase the program or just want to try it out, the download is actually the same. As we'll see during the install, there's a place to enter the serial number if you elect to purchase it. Either way, I encourage you to get it from their site to ensure that you're getting the correct and most recent version.
I received Acronis as a single program file: ATIH2011_6696_en-US.exe. As versions and names change, what you get may be somewhat different.
Running that file starts the Acronis setup program:
You can see that Acronis was unable to connect to its update server. In this example, I installed it on a new machine that's not yet connected to the internet.
Clicking on Install Acronis TrueImage Home at the top takes us to the setup wizard:
After agreeing to the EULA (End User License Agreement), and choosing whether or not to participate in the Customer Experience Program, you'll have an opportunity to enter in the serial number for the purchased program:
The serial number format used by Acronis is long enough that I copied it to a text file on another internet-connected machine. Then, I used a USB thumb-drive to get it to my new machine where I opened it in Notepad and copied/pasted the serial number into the form.
Next up is the setup type:
No matter what I set up, I always choose Custom; I strongly recommend that you do the same. It's the one way to avoid unexpected hitchhikers on product installs. Acronis doesn't have any, but it's still a habit that I recommend.
The one change that I made was to not install the online backup option (I have my own approach so I will never use this).
Next is user selection:
For a single-user machine, there's theoretically little difference, but I almost always select "Install for all users that share this computer" so that no matter what accounts I might create in the future, I'll always have access to the program.
Finally, there's a summary:
Assuming that all is correct, click on Proceed and the setup commences.
After a few minutes, this message appears when finally complete:
Click on Close and ....
Unfortunately, like most backup programs, Acronis does install some low-level software that requires that you reboot your machine in order to complete the installation.
After doing so, you can run Acronis True Image Home 2011:
You might notice a "Show at startup" checkbox in the lower left. I actually recommend unchecking that. While the shortcuts on the splash screen sound inviting, my experience is that they make more assumptions than I would like and ultimately end up causing confusion.
In my opinion, selecting Go to the main screen (Use all the program functionality.) is the way to go, both now and when you run Acronis in the future.
Article C4754 - March 2, 2011 « »
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
April 9, 2011 5:55 AM
I just made the leap to Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit myself. I did some reading on it from a couple great books, one being Windows 7: The Missing Manual by David Pogue and Windows 7 Inside Out by Bott, Siechert, and Stinson before my new PC and its W7 OS arrived. I have also read about Windows 7 online.
Something I came across beforehand was that some programs will not install correctly if the are not installed as administrator. Others will install OK but don't run right after installation. As Leo explained in another article, with Windows 7 just because you have an administrator account does NOT mean everything you try to do is attempted with full administrator privileges.
Using "Install as Administrator" after a program gives you trouble trying to install it may well solve your problem. if a program is giving you fits after it is installed it often takes less time to uninstall it and re-install as an administrator than to fuss and fiddle with it to try to get it to work right.
Thinking back on setting up my new PC I did encounter both situations about 4 or 5 times each. I have almost 600 GB of stuff on my PC , some 500 GB on a 1.5 TB secondary drive and about 100 GB on a 160 GB solid state primary drive. This includes a bunch of different programs so i can't remember every single one.
This I do know: The Install as Administrator fixed the problems every time, both installation and improper operation.
I didn't install Acronis since I have an old version and plan to get a new one. But, among the programs that many complained about with the 64 bit OS was Corel Paintshop Pro Photo X3. The complaints were both that it did not work at all or ran very poorly when used with 64 bit Windows 7. There were slowdowns, lock-ups, crashes, etc. Mine installation works perfectly.
I also read of a myriad of problems with MS Office 2003 on the same 64 bit OS. Knowing what I read ahead of time I did the Install as Administrator right off. All the programs I have used in the suite work perfectly.
I have yet to find a program I have been unable to install and have not found one that will not run with Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit.
To use Install as Administrator, find the setup or installation file for the program, be it in a folder from a download or by opening or exploring a disk. Right click on the installation/setup icon or command and select "Install as Administrator" from that menu's list. Everything runs the same from there on.
I won't try to venture an explanation of why I think this is. All I know the Install as... command is there for a reason and it has solved installation and operational problems for me.
I hope this helps some of you.
March 22, 2012 7:36 PM
Can I use my PC while Acronis is backing up Disk Partition
22-Mar-2012
March 22, 2012 9:05 PM
@KT
Most people schedule it to run in the middle of the night when they (hopefully) aren't working.
Here's an article on that:
Scheduling automatic backups with Acronis
March 24, 2012 12:40 AM
Hi Leo
What is the main difference between Acronis true image and Acronis Plus.
Thank you
March 24, 2012 2:24 AM
@KT
Acronis Plus Pack is an add-on for Acronis True Image. Here's what Acronis say about it:
Acronis Plus
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